
Diwali! Celebration of Lights, a celebration of winning over the Darkness. But are we actually winning over the darkness and not going towards the darkness?

Before Diwali, we all get into the discussions regarding pollution. Bunch of people sitting and discussing, why we should not burn crackers, this is the very normal site during Diwali month.

And during all this “Say no to crackers” discussion, there is always this one person raising questions like “Why, why these slogans start running around only on Diwali and not during other festivals or other occasions?”
And yes! We can all agree on the point that firecrackers are used on other occasions as well, but let’s not forget the fact that on all those festivals or occasions crackers are used for a very minimal time by very few groups of people.
On the other hand, on Diwali in India, we all set off firecrackers as a ritual. And this ritual is done by almost all of us for at least 2 hours.
Now India is the nation of 1.37 billion people in which 80% are Hindu. Assuming the fact that might be 15% of us are well aware of pollution and don’t burn even single cracker. So we remain with 65% of the population.
Also not to forget that Diwali is the biggest festival of India all Hindus and non-Hindu celebrate this festival together. We can add a 5% population of non-Hindu as well.
From 1.37 billion people, 70% of us are still enjoying firecrackers for at least 2 hours. You can do the math and get to know about the intensity of air pollution on Diwali.

It’s been more than a week since Diwali and I haven’t seen the sun properly till now.
On Sunday, the Air Quality Index in Delhi was recorded at 999. Because of this, they have decided to shut down all the schools for a few days.
This is the high time for all of us to take some major steps and educate everyone about pollution and how it’s going to affect our health and the upcoming generation.
Otherwise, we are all doomed!
